Sandoval 64 Celebrate Nuptials at UNM

By Ryan Floersheim

The "Sandoval 64," the 32 same-sex couples that were married a few months ago, celebrated the day that changed their lives, and the history of the state, Sunday afternoon with a crowd of more than 500 friends and family members.

The winners, losers and in-betweens

By Greg Payne

An election is just past and summer is here in full force, but before we fully shift our focus to the wildfires blazing around the state and stories about the Rio Grande running dry, a postmortem is appropriate. Following are a few thoughts on the winners, losers and in-betweens from the June 1 primary election.

Gay couples in Massachusetts are getting legally married in droves but that story is nowhere near as hot as the dubiously legal San Francisco weddings of February. Someday soon, probably very soon, the topic of gay marriage will be as tired and boring as Janet Jackson's right boob. The reason is this: Gay marriage is exactly the same as regular old marriage except they're gay. Big whup. Let the Bible thumpers froth at the mouth over how gay marriage will bring about the imminent demise of the world as we know it. Don't forget, these are the same people who predicted the end of marriage if women were allowed to vote, own property or earn their own money. Marriage between same-sex couples is simply the newest step in the evolution of a cultural institution that has been in flux since it began.

"Which candidate will end this tortured misadventure the quickest?"

By Jerry Ortiz y Pino

One of the truisms about war is that it's the innocent bystanders, the civilians, the children and the noncombatants who absorb most of the damage that takes place. We are now beginning to see just how extensive the "collateral damage" from Mr. Bush's grand invasion of Iraq will eventually prove to be.

Dateline: England—Michael Gunn, a 21-year-old student at Kent University, is suing the school for not warning him that plagiarizing is wrong. “I did plagiarize,” Gunn admitted to FOX news service. “I never dreamt it was a problem.” Gunn was told on the eve of his final exams that he wouldn't be getting any grades for this past semester's course work because all his papers turned out to be lifted in their entirety from various Internet sites. Gunn apparently felt the activity was condoned by the university because he had turned in several stolen papers and “no one spotted it.” According to the BBC, Gunn is suing the university for the return of his tuition money because he should have been warned that using already published text was against the rules. Unfortunately for Gunn, students who may be misinformed about the definition of plagiarism are given guidelines that say lifting material from other sources and passing it off as their own is against school regulations. “In the School of English, this information is provided in the faculty handbook and in the department's own handbook, both of which are issued to all students,” deputy vice-chancellor of Kent University David Nightingale told reporters.